Oakland: Grandmother walking to store shot, killed in gun battle

OAKLAND -- A woman walking to a store in East Oakland was struck and killed during a gun battle between people on the other side of the street Wednesday night, police said.

The woman was walking with a relative and was hit by an errant bullet at 6:53 p.m. in the 9100 block of International Boulevard, police said. The other person was not injured, police said.

Police did not identify the victim, but a longtime friend of the woman identified her as Ramona Rochelle Foreman, 49.

"She was a good person. She never did anything to anybody," said Al Roberts, who has a 30-year-old daughter and a 32-year-old son and three grandchildren with the victim. "I can't believe it's her lying there."

Foreman lived about four blocks away from the store, Roberts said, and took care of her elderly mother.

No arrests have been made and police don't know what sparked the gun battle. At least 10 evidence markers were strewn on the sidewalk across the street from where the woman died. The death is the city's 124th homicide of the year.

Several blocks of International Boulevard are blocked to traffic while police investigate the shooting.

Anyone with information should call police at 510-238-3821 or Crime Stoppers at 510-777-8572 or 510-777-3211. There is a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the suspect in the killing.